The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2009 , Vol 51 , Num 5
The Incidence of Congenital Malformations in Children with Cancer
*1Currently at Department of Pediatrics, Başkent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, and Departments of 1Pediatric
Oncology, Institute of Oncology, and 2Pediatrics, Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Medicine, İzmir, Turkey
We evaluated the incidence of congenital malformations in 566 children
(median age: 8, M:F 1.3) with lymphomas and solid tumors using patient
records. In this study, 12.7% of children either had a congenital malformation
(7.8%) or a birthmark (4.9%). The incidence of patients with a childhood
cancer syndrome was 3% and these cases developed typical tumors. The
rate of consanguineous marriages was 12.6%, and family history of cancer
was positive in 31.2%. Median age at cancer diagnosis, gender, maternal
age, history of stillbirth and missed abortion, consanguinity of parents, and
family history of cancer were not significantly different in cases with and
without a congenital malformation. The most frequent cancers were central
nervous system tumors and lymphomas. No remarkable association between
a particular anomaly and a specific cancer type could be shown. The high
incidence of congenital anomalies in this study may stimulate future large
cohort studies in our country.
Keywords :
congenital malformation, birthmarks, childhood cancer, childhood cancer
syndromes.